Chapter 84
Chapter 84
Hearing her speak with such absolute certainty, the men behind her all turned their eyes on her.
Nanny Zhou: “…”
Song Jin crossed his arms and laughed. “Hey, little thing, what nonsense are you spouting now?”
Shen Qingzhu couldn’t help laughing too. “So bad luck can actually be contagious? And all of it got passed on to you?”
Nanshu said, “Well, well, Jiang Yunsui. You start talking nonsense the moment you come back. Was your last punishment too light? Young Master, hurry and punish her more.”
Jiang Yunsui met Ji Yan’an’s pitch-black eyes, and her heart immediately went, Uh-oh.
She had only just come back, and she was already getting carried away.
“I didn’t say anything just now.”
After saying that, she covered her mouth, intending to fool herself if no one else.
Ji Yan’an said, “You were told to copy the Thousand Character Classic once. Finish it soon and bring it to me.”
Jiang Yunsui: “…”
Fine. This was what they called turning joy into sorrow.
Jiang Yunsui drooped in dejection, but Little Mushroom would not give up.
In order to reduce the number of characters she had to copy, the freshly cleaned Little Mushroom followed Ji Yan’an around attentively, pouring him tea and even pounding his legs.
“Ji Yan’an, can I copy a little less? Pleeease?”
When she was asking for a favor, her soft, sticky voice was rather sweet.
Ji Yan’an lowered his eyes and took a sip of tea, hiding the slight upward curve at the corner of his mouth.
“Mm. You can write this much less.”
He held up five fingers.
“Five hundred!”
Jiang Yunsui’s voice instantly brightened.
Ji Yan’an simply looked at her in silence.
Jiang Yunsui waited a moment, and the smile on her face gradually faded.
“Then… then fifty?”
Fifty was fine too. It was still better than not reducing anything, right?
Ji Yan’an’s clear, cool voice spoke words that made Jiang Yunsui want to rebel on the spot.
“What are you dreaming about? Five characters.”
Jiang Yunsui’s little face immediately collapsed. Her hand, which had been about to pour tea for Ji Yan’an, changed direction. She hugged the teapot straight to her mouth and gulped it down.
The angry Little Mushroom went glug, glug, glug, hugging the teapot as she drank every last drop of tea inside.
“Hmph!”
Then she wiped her mouth with great boldness and slammed the teapot heavily onto the table.
“Jiang Yunsui!”
The instant Ji Yan’an curled his fingers to flick her forehead, she turned and bolted outside.
The Thousand Character Classic had so many words. She was just a mushroom who had only learned the tiniest bit of writing. How long would it take her to copy the whole thing?
The others in the room stared straight ahead, pretending they had seen nothing.
Tsk, tsk, tsk… That little girl really was getting bolder by the day.
After Jiang Yunsui ran out, she went and picked two big mushrooms, then headed toward the kitchen.
“Fat Chef, Fat Chef, I’m here! I’m back!”
The little girl hugged the two big mushrooms and walked into the kitchen while calling out in her childish voice.
“I missed your cooking so much.”
Fat Chef, who was sitting leisurely in the kitchen eating cherries, heard her voice, and his whole face immediately creased into a smile like a laughing Buddha.
“Little Yunsui is back! Aiyo, how long were you gone? You’ve already lost a whole circle of weight.”
Fat Chef held Jiang Yunsui’s little face in his chubby hands, looking left and right before finally reaching that conclusion.
Jiang Yunsui blinked, then touched her own chubby little face too.
“Really?”
Fat Chef nodded firmly.
“But I can’t fit into my old clothes anymore.”
The clothes Cook Chen later made for her had thankfully been a little larger. Otherwise, she would not have been able to wear them at all.
“At your age, you’re growing. Of course your clothes don’t fit anymore.”
As he spoke, he grabbed a big handful of cherries and gave them to her.
“Eat more. These little things are pretty sweet.”
“It’s not mealtime yet. Are you hungry? I’ll make you a bowl of saozi noodles.”
Jiang Yunsui nodded again and again. “I also want milk tea.”
“You got it. Grandpa Fatty will get it ready for you.”
Jiang Yunsui sat down without the slightest courtesy in the chair Fat Chef had been lounging in earlier. Swinging her two short little legs, she tossed the cherry in her hand up just a tiny bit, opened her small mouth as wide as she could, and tried to catch it the way Fat Chef had.
Plop.
Her mouth failed to catch it. Her eye caught it instead.
Fat Chef burst out laughing at the sight.
“That won’t do. You need more practice.”
Jiang Yunsui popped a cherry into her mouth.
“Then I’ll practice right now.”
Unfortunately, after practicing for quite a while, all she managed to do was pick cherries up off the ground. Not a single one landed in her mouth.
Jiang Yunsui puffed up in frustration.
The moment the noodles Fat Chef had made for her were ready, Jiang Yunsui immediately scampered over.
Fat Chef set up a small table in the courtyard outside the kitchen and placed a steaming bowl of saozi noodles on it.
Jiang Yunsui held a little stool and followed behind Fat Chef like a tiny tail.
“All right, eat up. I’ll go make you some milk tea.”
“Okay, okay.”
Jiang Yunsui bobbed her little head cheerfully and sat there obediently, a tiny bundle that looked just like a kitten.
She was already quite skilled with chopsticks now, though the chopsticks were still a little too big for her hands.
There was a beautiful poached egg on top of the saozi noodles. She stabbed it with her chopsticks and bit right into it.
She ate so happily that her little head swayed slightly from side to side.
Before long, Fat Chef brought over the milk tea.
“Thank you, Fat Chef~”
Little Mushroom thanked him politely and sweetly.
“What are you thanking me for? As long as your Grandpa Fat is here, Little Yunsui can come find me whenever she wants something to eat.”
“Okay~”
Jiang Yunsui wasn’t the only one who got food. Fat Chef also used the leftover bone broth to soak some rice for the two dogs.
Jiang Yunsui battled with the noodles for quite a while and finally finished the bowl of saozi noodles that was even bigger than her face. In the end, she even drank up every last drop of soup.
After letting out a full little burp, Jiang Yunsui rubbed her round belly and stood up.
“Fat Chef, is there any milk tea left? I want to go see Aunt Chen.”
“There is. I’ll pack some up for you.”
Not only was there milk tea, there were also some pastries.
Jiang Yunsui hooked the little basket over the crook of her arm. After saying goodbye to Fat Chef, she went to get three sticks of incense, spirit money, and the gold ingots she had folded herself. Then she left through the back gate of Ji Mansion and headed to Cook Chen’s grave.
She arranged all the food, lit the three sticks of incense, then burned the spirit money and gold ingots.
After kowtowing three times properly, she sat cross-legged in front of Cook Chen’s grave.
“Auntie, I came to burn money for you. Spend it however you want over there. Let me tell you, Ji Yan’an and I went out to suppress bandits. I was super amazing…”
By now, Jiang Yunsui had more or less come out of her grief.
But she liked coming here to share gossip she had heard with Aunt Chen, as well as the things happening around her.
“Ji Yan’an is so mean. He actually made me copy the Thousand Character Classic. There are so many words. I suspect he’s trying to work me to death.”
“Hehe, I drank all his tea and ran away.”
As she talked, she suddenly felt the urge to pee.
Oh no. She had drunk so much tea and milk tea today.
“Auntie, I’m leaving first, or I’ll wet my pants in a bit.”
With that, she grabbed the basket and ran.
She did not take the offerings with her, because a few little beggars often came around here.
These offerings that Auntie had already eaten could be left here for those little beggars to eat.
Sure enough, not long after Jiang Yunsui left, three filthy little heads popped out from the grass not far away.
When they saw the offerings in front of the grave, the three children’s eyes instantly lit up.
They were sensible children. Even though they were terribly hungry, they first bowed toward the grave before taking the offerings away.